We began today with a good-news, bad-news scenario. The bad news: as we were preparing to drive
off this morning, a man approached our car and pointed to the back driver’s
side tire. (Some of you will know what I mean when I say, “Shades of
Barcelona!) There was, indeed, a
sidewall bubble on the tire and, believe it or not, this is where the good news
begins. The gentleman (and I use the term in every good sense) who alerted us
to the problem was Deniz, the owner of our hotel, and he took customer service
to a new level. After discussing alternatives
with Tom, he got on his scooter and led us to an oto lastik, or tire-repair shop (and I use that term loosely),
where more options were discussed. The chief issue was the temporary spare, the
use of which would severely limit the speed at which Tom could zip around the
country. Deniz then got on the phone to
our car rental agency in Istanbul, then to their office in Antalya, and more
possibilities were considered.
Meanwhile, the tire repair doctor decided that the patient could be
fixed and proceeded to do so. For ten
dollars.
With that, and armed with Deniz’s cell phone number, should
we encounter any difficulty, we were back to Plan A, which started with a drive
back east along the coast to Demre to visit Myra, the site of ancient Lycian
rock tombs and a Roman theater. There
were many tombs, which honeycomb the rocks high above ground level, and are
elaborately carved. We also drove around Myra’s old port, Andriake, where the
ruins play second fiddle to legions of captains trying to enlist passengers for
day trips.
For miles yesterday and again today, we passed more
greenhouses than we’ve ever seen, surely tens of thousands of them. They line the roadside, climb the hills, and
even fill the towns – simply amazing to us.
Ocagiz is a pretty little port, a bit off the beaten path,
and beautifully situated in a bay, with wonderful views of nearby islands, a
hilltop fortress, and ruined cities.
It’s a fishing village, and also home to a large flotilla of tour boats
of every size and their eager captains.
It was a glorious day and the water beckoned, so we made a deal with a
skipper and were the only passengers on his very nice and rather large
boat. We saw the remains of the city of
Simena, along with the sunken breakwater of its harbor.
Then, it was on to the sunken city of Kekova,
where we saw mosaics, columns, building stones, amphorae, and its harbor’s
breakwater, all submerged after earthquakes destroyed the ancient city. Our boat had glass-bottom sections, and they afforded
us a great view of the rubble through the crystal-clear waters. The sea was navy blue, the sky sunny and
clear, and everything in between was just as perfect. As we left the dock, we encountered a small
group of young fisherman displaying the shark they’d caught and laid out on the
dock. Until that moment, the warm waters
had been very tempting!
After an unsuccessful attempt to find the ruins of Phellos,
in the mountains above our home base at Kas, we drove the length of the long
peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean southwest of town. We stopped to take in the turquoise waters of
one of the rocky beaches and feel the lovely warmth of the water before taking
a walk around town to see the Lycian rock tombs, Hellenistic temple, and Roman
amphitheater that remain from earlier beach lovers.
We enjoyed sunset and wine on our balcony and on the hotel’s
rooftop terrace before heading out to dinner on the main square fronting the
harbor. It was a warm and lovely evening
and we enjoyed eating outside and moonlit walk afterward.
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